Gear. Gadgets. Travel. Life. Writing.

Category Archives: Meta

I’ve been slow to write here of late, largely because of a job change and a lot more blogging at other sites – both of my own and other hosts. I’m now writing on the main page of AMERICAblog, which is pretty great. I’ve been reading AMERICAblog for at least six years and it’s pretty cool to have regular posting privileges at an A-list liberal blog. I’ve been blogging on politics since 2004 and this is my biggest regular platform yet. Definitely stop by and see what I’m up to over there.

All that said, I am long overdue for a bunch of bag reviews. I’ve been using the MEI Executive Overnighter, Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer and Tom Bihn Tri-Star for a number of months now and have plenty to say about each bag. I also should probably do a review of the GoLite Jam2.

The point is, even if I’m busy with my other writing projects and professional life, this blog represents a good piece of what I’m interested in when I’m not focused on those other endeavors, so I like to keep it updated. When I don’t do that, I feel like I’m neglecting a part of myself.

In 2007 and 2008 I had the privilege to work on Chris Dodd’s presidential campaign. My job as Deputy Internet Director was pretty great. I got to travel with Senator Dodd on all of his political trips — basically a lot of visits to Iowa and New Hampshire, along with the other frequent stops in the 2008 cycle (Florida, Michigan, South Carolina, Nevada, and Utah). My primary role was to serve as the campaign’s videographer and blogger from the road. Given my name (Matt Browner-Hamlin) it wasn’t surprising that my nickname on the campaign was Blogger Hamlin. I never really embraced it then, but am doing so now as the name of this blog. I’ll see if it sticks, but for now I think it’ll do just fine.

I’ve been blogging about politics for almost six years and writing about cocktails, bars and spirits for about two years.

I want to start this site to be for something else – not an aggregator of my writings on politics or cocktails, but a different and unique space. I’m leaning towards writing about traveling, technology, social networks, and life as a digital native. What that really means I do not yet know. Maybe it will end up being a blog just about my life (something I’ve never had a strong desire to write). Maybe it will be a place where I review a lot of the different gear and technology I interact with. Maybe it will be about my frequent travels for work and less frequent travels for pleasure. Maybe it will be about the places I draw inspiration from around the web. We shall see…